Thursday, September 21, 2006

Dog the Bounty Hunter Fan

I am a huge fan of the A&E show Dog the Bounty Hunter. For me the main appeal of the program is the sincere concern that Duane "Dog" Chapman shows for the folks that he picks up. He believes that everyone deserves a second chance and that is what he tries to pass on to these people.

Dog was responsible for the capture and later arrest in Mexico of Andrew Luster, the grandson of Max Factor, about 3 years ago. Luster was convicted of brutally raping over 80 women. He was convicted in absentia (he wasn't present for the conviction) because he fled the country during his trial. I found a website that said Luster wasn't guilty.... even though he video taped the rapes showing the women as drugged, non-willing participants and from what I understand he taped some of the more brutal scenes of his acts.

Anyway, Dog found the guy, he was brought back to the US and sentenced to 124 years.

Now, 3 years later, Dog and his assistants are arrested by U.S. Marshall's on warrants from Mexico charged with conspiracy and illegal detention. What it comes down to is that there are no extraditions out of Mexico!!!!!

How many women did this kook Luster rape while he was down there? After Dog found him and his hotel room was searched, the authorities found a notebook with a list of witnesses at his trial that he was 'going to get even with.' So if Dog had not found this man he would have come back to the U.S. and possibly killed innocent people.... and now Dog is the bad guy. I read an article that said the FBI was right behind Dog, it seems like the FBI is always a day late and a dollar short.

Dog did do some time after he picked Luster up 3 years ago down in Mexico, he had to bond out of jail and was told that he did not need to worry about any of this that it would not affect him unless he came back into Mexico.


This infuriates me. I feel pretty certain that the bad guys know this information and run to Mexico knowing that they cannot be brought back to the U.S. and held responsible for their actions.

With all of the current hoopla over illegal immigrants from Mexico, educating their children and NAFTA our Presidential Administration needs to get involved in this and tell Mexico to kiss our ass.

This is just irresponsible. From this date forward I will not knowingly purchase any item that I know has been made in Mexico nor will I do business with any company with offices in Mexico. I see this as aiding and abetting in a crime and I will not have any part of it.

I am going to contact my Congress people and ask them to discuss Dog's plight with the Congress person from Hawaii to see what can be done to help out this compassionate man and his associates.

Here are a couple of links so that you can get some background on the case and you really need to watch Dog the Bounty Hunter to see for yourself the good that one person can do.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=22&art_id=qw1158398821595W643
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/18/luster/

Friday, September 08, 2006

My Soul Aches

Why do amazingly good people have to die senselessly?!?!?!

Especially due to "hospital error"?

Do we sit back and accept this senseless death and if we decide to fight back, what do you really get in the end except reliving the horror, loads of stress, tons of lies and no one accepting responsibility.... and you are still missing this one very important human being in your life and in this world.

Tonight we buried an amazing 54 year-young man. He went into Olathe (Kansas) Medical Center for a knee replacement surgery early last week and passed away Sunday afternoon. He had been up walking around after the surgery, then the "nurses" found him wandering around "confused" so they put him back to bed.... with no monitors. At some point they returned to check on him and he had coded, it took them 17 minutes to bring him back. He went into a coma and never came out.

Joe and my hubby had been friends since high school but I have only known him for 20 years. Joe was a Vietnam Veteran, he was a musician who could play any instrument including the sitar. He owned and rode a Norton Commodore which he bought in 1971, it is bright yellow. He could make wonderful creations from stained glass and I know a little known secret about him.... he was also a weaver. He was a man of many talents and few words. He was a gentle soul but when many first met him they were often intimidated by him appearance. He leaves an adoring wife and soul-mate of 29 years.

My life and that of the many people who know and love him will be a little less full with his passing. He surrounded himself with only folks he truly enjoyed and I feel very privileged to have been counted among them.

I will cherish the time that he was with us and a pox on those that did this to such an amazing soul.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Parenting Saga Part 2....

The mom had called my daughter and told her that his problems were because of her. Now if this isn't a classic case of someone not being able to assume responsibility for their actions... I don't know what is. And because of this fact the doctor's had recommended that the two of them no longer see each other.

I thought this sounded a little off in left field so I called the hospital to hear it for myself and while I had the nurse on the phone I informed her of the mom's alcoholism, addiction to gambling and pedopholia (when she was a school teacher, and married, in Nebraska she slept with one of her students. She later married him and he is now the step-father). She was not charged but did lose her teaching license. I also informed her of other facts that I am aware of after spending so much time with this young man.

As expected, the MD did not say that the kids needed to part ways, actually my daughter is one of the positive influences in his life as is my family and he encouraged interaction with us.

Of course the mom heard about my phone call and called me wanting to know why I butted in. I informed her that I did not feel that she would provide the doctor's with all of the information they would need and I did not think that they had said what she claimed. All in all I think that we had a good and productive conversation ... at the time, but I now think the woman has bad issues.

He was released from the hospital on Tuesday and was allowed to come over to my house and spend 2 hours with my daughter. When my daughter took him home after the two hour visit, mom and step-dad were at the bar. Later that night he later called us in tears and said that he was really depressed being at home. I offered some coping skills and told him that we would come get him the next day and we would talk to mom about him staying with us. But she has not let him talk to my daughter or see her since then.

They are supposed to be getting family counseling but the mother told me that she could not afford it so they were not going to follow through with it. I am heart-broken and very worried.

Do I call his father? Do I call child protective services? Do I leave it alone? There are 3 other children in the home ages 7 - 14.

This is one of the major flaws with the foster care system. You take the child(ren) out of the broken home, give them counseling, fix them, heal their wounds and then send them back into the broken and messed up home. Then everyone is surprised when a child turns up dead or severely beaten. It is our job as "the village" to do all that we can do when we know that a bad situation is going on that involves a child.

I think that the mom has no power over her own life but she can exert some power over her son and that is exactly what she is doing. But we all have our breaking points. Mom has taken away his support system, my daughter and my family.... so how quickly will he reach that breaking point and how bad will it be.